I saw Can You Ever Forgive Me? with Melissa McCarthy over the weekend. Really quite good, and not much of a comedy, although there is some humor at times. It's a straight drama based on a true story. McCarthy plays the cantankerous lead exceptionally well, and gets some help from the always entertaining Richard E Grant who pretty much reprises his famous role in Withnail and I. Thoroughly entertaining, with solid storytelling and some interesting emotional moments, but it really is McCarthy's performance that makes this movie work so well. Gone are her trademark comedic moves, and in place is a fully developed character. It doesn't feel like you are watching McCarthy, which is hard to accomplish. It's like if Will Ferrell didn't act like Will Ferrell in a movie, which he sort of did in Stranger Than Fiction. This movie reminds me of that, but much less funny of course.
Anyway, go see it. It's good.
8.5/10
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Yeah, that scene was quite grotesque. I'd also call it possibly the best scene in the movie, very likely a future classic. I can honestly say I haven't seen anything close to that before, at least not even near as well done. Thats the scene that I think might really stick with you.
Suspiria was fun, there are definitely things you will see that you can't unsee.
Anything horror that can manage to pull off hauntingly new things today gets some credit, in a genre where everything's been done a hundred times over.
Would watch again solely for reactions.
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Some drive-by comments about movies I've recently seen:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
There was this SNL sketch a couple weeks back where a Netflix executive would literally throw piles of cash at any content creator with an idea, no matter how crazy or stupid. This was what I was reminded of while watching this film -- the movie is a collection of shorts within a genre unloved by modern audiences and some of the shorts are extremely cruel and dark, and the biggest stars in the film had the least amount of lines to boot. I was giddy that the Coens was able to find someone to fund a project like this. This is one of my faves of the year. The first two stories seem to be the ones that have received the most attention as they're the ones that will elicit some belly laughs but it's the 3rd, 4th and 5th stories that have stuck with me many days after seeing the movie.
Bohemian Rhapsody
I had heard alot about the apocryphal material prior to seeing the movie plus I generally dislike the preordained narrative structure of biopics so I was surprised that I found myself entertained by this movie. It was well-paced, direction was punchy (pretty much shot like a music video), and I was impressed by the seamless visual effects. I admit there were some head-shaking moments for me, especially after the fourth or fifth montage within the first 45 minutes of the movie, but I understood this movie was not made for serious Queen fans or cinephiles like myself. After the movie, I witnessed my wife pulling out my Queen CDs and reading the liner notes and she never shows any interest in my music collection. So the movie accomplished its goal.
Creed II
Pretty much suffers from the same problem as every other Rocky sequel -- it's much more interesting to watch a ne'er do well persevere to make something of himself in the boxing ring than it is to see someone at the top knocked off his perch. Also, the way these sequels/remakes depict big championship, big money fights do not ring nearly as true as the way small-time bouts are depicted. My guess is that, for whatever reason, the topics of money, purse bids, and promoters are never represented realistically in boxing movies about big championship bouts.
Leave No Trace
I was pretty much devastated by the end of this movie, mostly because I have a daughter and the thought of failing her as a parent made me a wreck. There have been comparisons made between Leave No Trace and Captain Fantastic but this is the much better movie. Captain Fantastic made living off the grid look like some kind of fantasy existence but this movie shows how hard life would be, especially if you're a teenage girl in the throes of puberty. I thought Ben Foster was exceptional as the father and former Afghanistan/Iraq war vet with untreated PTSD who is too psychically injured to give his daughter what she needs even though it's clear he loves her dearly. I hope he gets a nomination. Granik should also get a nom for screenplay and direction.
Widows
I found Widows to be kind of like a Frankenmovie with lots of disparate parts welded together -- specifically, it reminded me of one of John Sayles' sprawling, socially and politically-aware films (like City of Hope or Sunshine State) with a heist thriller bolted onto it. The narrative is overstuffed but it still worked for me. I think part of it was because my wife and I saw it in a nearly full movie theatre and there were audible gasps when the big twist was revealed -- plus the dude behind me exclaimed "what the f***!". It's always more fun watching a movie when the audience is fully committed to the ride.
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^Always good write ups, so I appreciate that. Plus, I learned a new useful word today, "apocryphal", and that is a rare occurrence for me, so thank you for that.
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^Always good write ups, so I appreciate that. Plus, I learned a new useful word today, "apocryphal", and that is a rare occurrence for me, so thank you for that.
Good word. Who would ever have thought a user named 'snootchiebootchies' would be so eloquent?
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That just indicates that you have yet to read the greatest book you will ever read...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas Adams
In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker’s Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.
First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.
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Totally agree on Buster Scruggs. That was way better than I expected and you're right those last couple shorts were the type that really make you think and end up on your mind days after seeing it.
Ben Foster is underrated IMO, will have to check out that one.
Excellent reviews!
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The premise makes zero sense. Do you know what would be even better than using a historically uncontrollable wild animal in combat? How about owning a gun? Or a tank? If raptors could be weaponized, why didn't someone just do that with a chimp or a lion? Because it makes zero sense. They would be good for melee combat I suppose, but they'd have to get close enough to avoid guns first. The cost of the dinosaurs at their auctions was also in the 10-30 million+ range. You could literally arm entire armies for those amounts of dollars or buy high end armaments like modern tanks and artillery capable of demolishing city blocks.
Somehow the effects have gotten worse and less believable since the original movie that came out in 1993.
Chris Pratt's special love affair with a raptor can only carry a movie so far.
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Kinda in "Hancock" I wouldn't say you missed anything special. It was like a Deadpool anti-hero that wasn't really funny. Just mostly drunk.
I would say he was kind (not full-out by any means) of a bad guy in Suicide Squad. That movie was a hot mess but not really because of him. He's shown some range in Pursuit of Happiness and Ali but when some of these actors blow up in popularity it's because of famous characters they play and they forever get attached to that type of character because people love that character. I like Will Smith when he's being typecast Will Smith but it's a matter of him picking good movie roles as he's been in some good ones and some duds. For example Tom Cruise is playing the same guy in a lot of his movies including six MIP moves and most of them all do very well at the box office because he is pretty good at selecting roles although The Mummy was a misstep for sure.
Last edited by Erick Estrada; 12-12-2018 at 01:16 PM.
I would say he was kind (not full-out by any means) of a bad guy in Suicide Squad. That movie was a hot mess but not really because of him. He's shown some range in Philadelphia and Ali but when some of these actors blow up in popularity it's because of famous characters they play and they forever get attached to that type of character because people love that character. I like Will Smith when he's being typecast Will Smith but it's a matter of him picking good movie roles as he's been in some good ones and some duds. For example Tom Cruise is playing the same guy in a lot of his movies including six MIP moves and most of them all do very well at the box office because he is pretty good at selecting roles although The Mummy was a misstep for sure.
The premise makes zero sense. Do you know what would be even better than using a historically uncontrollable wild animal in combat? How about owning a gun? Or a tank? If raptors could be weaponized, why didn't someone just do that with a chimp or a lion? Because it makes zero sense. They would be good for melee combat I suppose, but they'd have to get close enough to avoid guns first. The cost of the dinosaurs at their auctions was also in the 10-30 million+ range. You could literally arm entire armies for those amounts of dollars or buy high end armaments like modern tanks and artillery capable of demolishing city blocks.
Somehow the effects have gotten worse and less believable since the original movie that came out in 1993.
Chris Pratt's special love affair with a raptor can only carry a movie so far.
The intention of weaponizing monsters, aliens, dinosaurs or using monsters to save us from another evil as has always been dumb but it makes for a good excuse for let these animals run rampant. It's never seems to go out of style as the idea has been used in Godzilla, Aliens, dinosaurs, super heroes (Suicide Squad lol), etc.
